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Coast to Coast: Three of a Kind

Ares 1-X on Pad 39-B awaiting launch tomorrow morning. STS-129 is on Pad 39-A in the background. The Delta and Atlas rocket pads are in the distance. Photo courtesy NASA.

I wrote on Thursday about the historical significance of two different spacecraft on the Shuttle launch pads.

I suspected NASA would have someone take a photo showing both craft, and sure enough it showed up online today.

Ares 1-X is supposed to launch tomorrow (Tuesday) at 8 AM EDT with a four-hour launch window, but there’s only a 40% chance of acceptable weather.

I hope to go out and videotape it, but I’ve been sick with a mild case of the flu since Saturday. If they launch, and if I film it, I’ll post it here as I’ve posted previous launches since arriving in Florida.

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With the delay of launch at KSC, hopefully you can get over your bug and get the launch.

I’ve read your blog for a while now, but this is the first I’ve registered to comment. I’m in Irvine which I believe is your past residence. Does Brandon Wood get his shot next year? I have a gut feeling that Figgins is only retained if he accepts below his market value from the Angels, and Chone would be a fool to accept that.

Well, this was certainly one of the more creative scrubs. Almost everything that could go wrong did.

We were within two minutes of launch at one point when a cargo ship strayed into the danger area. A lot of jokes went through the crowd about a sub from the local Naval station using it for torpedo practice. Had the cargo ship not interfered, they would have launched.

And at 11:15 AM, it rained on us.

So nearly five hours were wasted waiting for the launch, and I crawled back into my sickbed.

But it might be worth the wait, as it was hazy all morning and we never got a clear view of the pad.

My “A” camcorder went in for repair so I’m using my older one which doesn’t have anywhere near the sharp picture and range. The “A” device is due back tomorrow afternoon, so if they don’t launch until Thursday I can get better video. But that’s just being selfish.

They’re predicting it’ll be quite a show because the engine is so powerful for such a thin vehicle. It’s been compared to a bottle rocket. It’s going to be similar to the earliest days of Mercury, when they were doing suborbital launches — it goes down-range for two minutes and then separates, plopping into the Atlantic. With a really clear view, we might actually see that.

Anyway, back to baseball …

Interesting you bring up Brandon Wood, because as I watched Figgins during the post-season I kept thinking about how Figgins’ decision will affect Wood’s future.

Erick Aybar has pretty much established himself at shortstop, so if Woody stays it’s at third base. Figgins is versatile, but there really isn’t another position open for him. If Rivera went to DH and Figgins to LF, Vladi’s gone but if Abreu stays I think he’s close to a DH role too. Rivera could play RF but he didn’t do all that well defensively this year.

Figgins’ departure would also radically change the Angels’ offense. Who would bat leadoff? Probably Aybar. We’d have less speed, few stolen bases, although with Wood you get more power. But Brandon will strike out quite a bit and I suspect his AVG will be around .250.

There’s always the possibility of a trade.

Vladi is happy in Anaheim but the Angels may feel that, as with Garret Anderson, it’s time to move on. I think Chone is happy here too, and hasn’t made the noises about reaping his reward as John Lackey has, but the Angels may decide to move on with Chone too.

My personal priority would be signing Lackey. If they let go Guerrero ($15M) and Kelvim Escobar ($9.5M), that’s almost $25M between those two to apply towards Lackey. But Figgins $5.775M) and Abreu ($5M) certainly deserve a raise.

It’s very unpredictable right now. I guess we just wait and see.

As for Irvine … I came to Irvine to work for the city in December 1978. I bought a home in Woodbridge in 1995. We moved to Florida in late May 2009.

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